Posted
by
Soulskill
on Tuesday July 05, 2011 @01:55PM
from the otherwise-the-terrists-win dept.

itwbennett writes "Last week, Microsoft warned that under the Patriot Act the company may be compelled to hand over European customers' data on its new cloud service to U.S. authorities — and also to keep the data transfer secret. This, of course, runs counter to the European Data Protection Directive, which states that organizations must inform users when they disclose personal information. 'Microsoft can already transfer E.U. data to the U.S. under the Safe Harbor agreement. But legal experts have warned that this agreement is hardly worth the paper it's written on,' writes IDG News Service's Jennifer Baker. 'There are seven principles of Safe Harbor, including reasonable data security, and clearly defined and effective enforcement. However all this is nullified if the Patriot Act is invoked.'"

Simply put, law enforcement agencies wanted many of the provisions in the PATRIOT act years before it was passed, but nobody was willing to go that far. Then we were attacked by terrorists, and suddenly the political climate changed and the concerns about undermining our constitutional rights magically disappeared. Now that law enforcement has the power they wanted, they are not going to give it up without a fight.

There was this brief period during the fallout from the Enlightenment when great men believed that liberty was worth the additional dangers it might add. But, in general, people are too dull and too easily frightened to understand that. They're too easily overawed, too easily swayed by emotional appeals, and lacking in sufficient ability to evaluate statements such as "We're increasing surveillance to maintain your freedoms" and realize that the two notions are diametrically opposed.

I learned a bit about the Patriot Act when buying a house. Prior to the Patriot Act you had to disclose sufficient financial information to the bank for them to take the risk of the loan. You had to prove you had the down payment, provide a credit report, and appraise the house. But they didn't really care where or how you got the money. But under the Patriot Act you have to provide an audit trail for all of your assets. For example, you must show where you got your down payment from and where it was for the past 6 months, etc. In my case I sold stocks so I had to show tons of statements prove that the money really came from those stocks, not some other place.

It was fairly creepy. I felt like I was depositing money in a bank and the government required proof that I didn't get the money by selling drugs. It really slowed things down and complicated it. I used to watch TV shows where the police had ridiculous access to people's information, but I see now how that is happening. I can imagine a time when the government can track every dollar - where it goes and where it came from.

That is by far not the most concerning part about the Patriot Act at all. Law enforcement was always seeking ways to obtain data. In every country. Nothing new. For most of them, they are a bit zealous but probably want to protect you. Meaning, the small guys. They are not the brightest bunch and have a hard time seeing the big picture but they are risking their lives daily to protect yours.

The REAL CONCERNING part about the Patriot Act is the SILENCE BY FORCE.

When you can't speak about what they are doing out of fear of being incarcerated, we no longer live in the United States of America.

So what really happened nearly 10 years ago was the United States Of America died. Its soul was stripped, its people were robbed, and we are still reeling in a deluded and dazed confusion arguing about meaningless shit (immigration, gay people wanting rights, and Obama's fucking birth certificate) without confronting the truth that a law exists that makes it illegal for you to talk about actions that need to be talked about.

When you are a business owner that is being raided by the government for all of your customers information indiscriminately without warrants or just cause and you cannot even warn your customers that their rights are being violated and should be offered the chance to face and defend themselves against their accusers and those that abridged their rights, we all need to seriously consider just what country we live in, is it really free, and have thrown the baby with the bath water out when it comes to protecting Freedom?